Prepositions of Location
Prepositions of Location
Prepositions of Location
at ....... point
on ....... surface
in ....... area/volume
The meanings of the three prepositions can be illustrated with some sample sentences:
4) There are five rooms in the house, which has a lovely fireplace in the living room.
At calls for further comment. Because it is the least specific of the prepositions in its spatial orientation, it has a great variety of uses. Here are some of them:
Using "at"
Location
5a) Tom is waiting for his sister at the bank.
Destination
Direction
Nouns denoting enclosed spaces, such as a field or a window, take both on and in. The prepositions have their normal meanings with these nouns: on is used when the space is considered as a surface, in when the space is presented as an area:
Notice that in implies that the field is enclosed, whereas on implies only that the following noun denotes a surface and not necessarily an enclosed area:
The cattle are grazing on the open range. (not enclosed by a fence )
When the area has metaphorical instead of actual boundaries, such as when field means "academic discipline," in is used:
Several common uses of in and on occur with street. The first two follow the general pattern of in and on usage. The third is an idiom that must be learned as a unit.
c) He declared bankruptcy last week, and now he's out on the street.
In and on are also used with means of transportation: in is used with a car, on with public or commercial means of transportation:
in the car on the bus on the plane on the train on the ship Some speakers of English make a further distinction for public modes of transportation, using in when the carrier is stationary and on when it is in motion. My wife stayed in/on the bus while I got out at the rest stop. The passengers sat in/on the plane awaiting takeoff.
The other two prepositions of direction are compounds formed by adding "to" to the corresponding prepositions of location. The preposition of location determines the meaning of the preposition of direction.
ON + TO = onto: signifies movement toward a surface IN + TO = into: signifies movement toward the interior of a volume
Prepositions of Spatial Relationship above Write your name above the line.
across
ahead of
along
among
around
behind
below
beside
between
from
in front of
inside
nearby
off
through
toward
under
He is hiding under the table. Please mark only within the circle.
within
Extended time
To express extended time, English uses the following prepositions: since, for, by, fromto, from-until, during,(with)in She has been gone since yesterday. (She left yesterday and has not returned.) I'm going to Paris for two weeks. (I will spend two weeks there.) The movie showed from August to October. (Beginning in August and ending in October.) The decorations were up from spring until fall. (Beginning in spring and ending in fall.) I watch TV during the evening. (For some period of time in the evening.) We must finish the project within a year. (No longer than a year.)
Place
To express notions of place, English uses the following prepositions: to talk about the point itself: in, to express something contained: inside, to talk about the surface: on, to talk about a general vicinity, at. There is a wasp in the room. Put the present inside the box. I left your keys on the table. She was waiting at the corner.
To express notions of an object being higher than a point, English uses the following prepositions: over, above. He threw the ball over the roof. Hang that picture above the couch.
Close to a point
To express notions of an object being close to a point, English uses the following prepositions: near, by, next to, between, among, opposite. She lives near the school. There is an ice cream shop by the store. An oak tree grows next to my house The house is between Elm Street and Maple Street. I found my pen lying among the books. The bathroom is opposite that room.